Random Comics News Story Round-Up
* here's some great news that I failed to post yesterday: progress on the long road back for Carla and Lance Hoffman, victims of a flash fire in southern California. Carla is a well-liked comics retail employee and blogger about comics. Benefit auction updates here. (thanks, Lea Hernandez)

* holiday gift-giving alert: Criterion has just put on sale a number of prints related to some of their DVD and DVD set packaging art, including work from Darwyn Cooke (that's his art pictured here) and Jaime Hernandez. I'm not sure why that strikes me as something I should post, but I'm going with my initial impulse.

* while I'm at it, Spike of Templar, Arizona wrote me and asked me to direct people to this sale. I don't do a ton of that, so please don't start writing in, but I can hardly blow off the self-publishing web cartoonist and aid the big DVD maker on the same day without feeling guilty.

* the writer James Vance weighs in on Steven Grant versus a bunch of bloggers, including me.

* finally, here's a note from Gary Dunaier: "Here's a fun piece of trivia -- the site of the 2009 MoCCA Art Festival (the 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and East 25th Street) is just a couple of blocks away from 387 Park Avenue South, where Marvel Comics had their offices in the 1980s." I've only received a few e-mails from folks about the the Festival moving from the Puck Building, and they were all positive.